November 18, 2021

Chamber of Mothers Spreads Awareness and Advocacy for Paid Family Leave

       

Chamber of Mothers is a newly formed group by moms and for moms. Chamber of Mothers is comprised of lawyers, advocates, and leaders advocating for the interests of moms, with their first goal to secure federal paid family leave.

Congress is in the midst of negotiating the Build Back Better Bill, legislation proposed by President Joe Biden to help America rebuild in the wake of COVID-19. The legislation is largely broken into three categories:

  • The American Rescue Plan (a COVID-19 relief package);
  • The American Jobs Plan (an infrastructure proposal intended to aid in the reduction of climate change), and;
  • The American Families Plan (a social policy focusing on welfare and social services funding).

Chamber of Mothers is currently focused on the American Families Plan, specifically the proposed federal funding for paid family leave. Right now, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is the only federal legislation related to family leave and fails to financially compensate mothers and family members who are eligible utilize the leave policy. President Biden originally proposed 12 weeks of paid leave, and Congress completely cut paid leave from the plan altogether. After much back and forth, Democrats reintroduced four weeks of paid family leave back into the proposal.

In the wake of this addition, the Chamber took to social media, spreading awareness on the need to keep federal paid family leave. They utilized #savepaidleave and #buildbackbleeding to build and track support of the movement. In the coalitions’ inaugural post, they created a symbol highlighted above “[t]he shape that the hands are making evokes the shape of the vagina, the entrance to the womb where life is formed. The hands are the union of two as one, and conjure the helping hands and village of support needed for new mothers and families.” This image spread throughout thousands and posts and a myriad of communities highlighting the need for federal support for mothers. The group is eager to grow and encourages those interested to enter their information on their website in addition to staying abreast of their social media pages.

Written by Law Clerk Katina Smith

white line

Pregnant Women, COVID-19 and Work

March 12, 2020
Pregnancy Discrimination
Gender Discrimination
There currently is no scientific evidence that COVID-19 creates an increased risk for adverse outcomes for pregnant women. That said, pregnant women may be more susceptible to respiratory infections, including COVID-19, and should practice precautions.

Salary Sharing and the Importance of Pay Transparency

March 11, 2020
Gender Discrimination
Pay transparency can effectively mitigate salary discrepancies based on race and gender, especially considering that women and minorities are often at the lower end of the pay grade. While publicizing each individual employee’s salary may create unnecessary animosity, reporting pay bands could be a favorable method of promoting a culture of transparency.

COVID-19 and Work

March 9, 2020
No items found.
Employers and employees have questions about what steps they should be taking to help protect against COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus in the workplace. We have compiled some useful resources to help you understand what actions to take at this time related to work.

Get In Touch

Knowing where to turn in legal matters can make a big difference. Contact our employment lawyers to determine if we can help you.